ANALYSIS: Client Profile - EMC&rsquo;s PR pros prove storage can be sexy - EMC is the undisputed leader in data storage, but how do you make the media care about something so bland? Rebecca Flass follows EMC&rsquo;s meteoric rise from just another tec

March 27, 2000
by REBECCA FLASS

Data storage isn’t exactly a fascinating topic, but for some
reason, it’s a story that the press can’t seem to get enough of today.
With an increasing number of Internet companies in search of storage to
service their e-business demands, many business publications are
forecasting that the industry will continue to explode. And in the
confusing technology landscape, where nearly every company claims to be
the leader in something, EMC is one company that can truthfully call
itself the undisputed leader in its category.

Data storage isn’t exactly a fascinating topic, but for some
reason, it’s a story that the press can’t seem to get enough of today.
With an increasing number of Internet companies in search of storage to
service their e-business demands, many business publications are
forecasting that the industry will continue to explode. And in the
confusing technology landscape, where nearly every company claims to be
the leader in something, EMC is one company that can truthfully call
itself the undisputed leader in its category.

Data storage isn’t exactly a fascinating topic, but for some

reason, it’s a story that the press can’t seem to get enough of today.

With an increasing number of Internet companies in search of storage to

service their e-business demands, many business publications are

forecasting that the industry will continue to explode. And in the

confusing technology landscape, where nearly every company claims to be

the leader in something, EMC is one company that can truthfully call

itself the undisputed leader in its category.

But in 1995, it was a different story for EMC. At the time, storage was

considered a peripheral technology, and EMC was known as a hardware

company selling into a declining mainframe market. Its annual revenues

were just over dollars 1 billion, and its stock was flat. That was also

the year that EMC decided to build its first dedicated corporate PR

function, aimed at educating the world on the importance of information

storage technology.

’Our challenge was not just to create a brand or increase the visibility

of EMC,’ says Mark Fredrickson, director of corporate

communications.

’We had to first establish the relevance of the category.’ To do that,

EMC began talking about storage as the place where information lives,

and added a personal touch, positioning it as more central to customers

than computers. This tactic separated EMC from its competitors and

quickly established EMC as a leader.

An unlikely giant

Today, EMC’s annual sales are more than dollars 6.7 billion. Its stock

rose more than 80,000% during the 1990s - the highest single-decade

performance in the history of the New York Stock Exchange - and recently

hit an all-time high of dollars 130 a share for a market capitalization

of dollars 133 billion.

This makes EMC, not exactly a household name, one of the 20 largest

companies in the US - ahead of Pfizer, Dell, Home Depot, Coca-Cola and

Time Warner.

The growth of EMC’s PR department has mirrored that of the company

itself.

In 1997, EMC set up a global PR operation with 25 agencies reporting

into EMC’s Hopkinton, MA headquarters.

As the company beefs up staff by 4,000 worldwide over the next few

years, 10 of those positions will be on the PR team, which hasn’t lost a

member in the past five years, Fredrickson claims. The new positions

will include a corporate PR director, public affairs manager,

international PR manager and Web writer. But smile-and-dial types need

not apply. Fredrickson says the company is not interested in

’stereotypical, perky PR people.’

EMC also views its PR agencies as employees, informing them of future

plans and giving them quarterly goals. The company has worked with the

Porter Novelli Convergence Group for about five years. While Fredrickson

admits that EMC has relied more on its internal PR team, as it has

better access to senior management, he says PNCG has been an important

part of EMC’s success. To create a close-knit PR structure, one member

of the agency’s five-person account team spends one day a week on-site

with EMC counterparts.

Although it seems that most corporate PR heads are itching to have a

direct report to the CEO, Fredrickson reports to Ron Slate, VP of global

communications and head of EMC’s marketing function, and feels that’s

the way it should be. ’Involving the corporate marketing organization in